China fines 10 people for cross border gambling activities

China’s foreign exchange regulator has revealed that 10 people have been fined for currency trades related to cross border gambling activities totalling US$6.6m.

China.- Chinese authorities have announced that 10 people have been fined a total US$896,730 for trading cash to use for cross border gambling activities. According to local media reports, the fines were handed out by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

In April, authorities announced that they would carry out a crackdown on capital flight utilized for cross-border gambling this year. The government also said it would destroy networks for fundraising and for attracting gamblers in China and remove gambling-related capital and technology chains.

The government is also focusing on online payment platforms linked to gambling.

46,575 prosecuted for gambling-related crimes in H1

Chinese authorities have reported an increase in prosecutions for gambling-related crimes in the first half of the year, mainly related to casinos in Macau. They said that 86.3 per cent of the prosecutions were for the “establishment of casinos”.

They said 46,575 people were prosecuted, up 27.7 per cent when compared with the same period of 2019. In the whole of 2020, 80,537 people were prosecuted for gambling-related crimes, but the number was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Supreme People’s Procuratorate said: “Gambling-related crimes have become increasingly Internet-based and developed in virtual formats.

“Internet-based gambling has been gradually replacing traditional, brick-and-mortar casinos in becoming a main format of crimes.”